For those who have been all a-twitter waiting for news on our latest sneak attack, the wait is over! I am here to tell you that the October 2nd dig at 932 Florida Avenue NW was, in a word, FAN-FREAKIN'-TASTIC.
Before
This was the most intensive project to date (not counting the one in Summer at which I almost died). Four guerillas hauled buns to the abandoned church/car wash - which I have lovingly dubbed the "House of Wash-ip"... get it?! Car wash + House of worship = WASH-IP! Oh, the humor people, it hurts - and brought with them a friggin' abundance of plants. Grasses, irises, a cana lily, a butterfly bush, lamb's ear, mums, pansies, asters, mint, ornamental cabbage, ornamental kale, and a cactus.Oh heck yeah, we planted a cactus. Woot!
Supplies
Anticipating another location with rock-hard dirt, I purchased the nifty Ground Hog, better known as the Garden Weasel (as seen on TV). It was pointy and shiny and wonderful... but unnecessary. Turns out? That was some fabulous dirt. No need for roll-y points of sharpness to break it up. I'll just have to save my Weasel for the next project.
We worked for three hours, planting and planting and planting as nearby Howard University students passed on their way to U Street. We even got a "thanks for doing that!" from one of the passers-by. (The week before a local resident stopped to help me and Guerilla #2 remove bindweed from the fence at the location. He was amped about the project.) In the dark we worked, true guerilla style. No permission, no light, all awesome.
Agent K created a nifty rock garden using broken concrete and rocks from the site:
Newbie guerilla, who we will call Awesome until she chooses her own alias, brought three buckets of irises from her own garden, and jumped into the dig with zeal. (Awesome is wicked cool and will be going to Burma or Bangalore or some other exotic place that begins with a B - or is it a C? - to work on a documentary. I want her to bring me back a zebra. And a meerkat.)
Gandalf, our Secondary Mascot (second only to The Gorilla), kept careful watch on our progress, occasionally beeping like a car alarm and hollering at pedestrians. She also ate our pansies.
And the icing on the cake? Voice of America came to tape the dig for a piece they are doing on guerilla gardening.Agent K planting and telling the producer lots of super cool stuff about guerilla gardening.
All the hard work paid off. Check out the site after the DCGG got its hands on it!
More than a week later, the site's still looking good, though the grasses are a tad brownish and several of our plants have been stolen. Specifically some of the irises, the ornamental kale, most of the pansies in the concrete wall, and the mum. But I hold out hope that the plant-stealing wasn't an act of vandalism, and instead that of fellow plant lover down on their luck and in desperate need of some ornamental cabbage. I would love to get in a huff about people stealing plants (I'm all about a good huff), but I don't feel that I have the grounds for such a huff considering we guerillas engage in felonious acts all of the time. (Stealing is not one of said felonious acts. Trespassing is.)
And there you have it, mah peeps! Another successful sneak attack on our beloved D.C. Wish you'd been there? Then get your posterior on the DCGG mailing list so that you can get notice of upcoming events! Do it!
The Fall may be here and Winter may be a-comin', but that doesn't mean the DCGG goes into hibernation. So stay tuned for more guerilla-y fun!
Muchas gracias to Guerilla #2 for taking pictures the night of the event, and then running out to get After pics when it was rainy and icky outside!
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